A Radical View of Set-Apartness

A RADICAL VIEW OF SET-APARTNESS

THE MESSAGE AND EXAMPLE OF QUMRAN

Hebrews 12:14: “…without set-apartness, no man shall see Elohim”.

Matthew 5:8: “The pure in heart will see Elohim.”

Leviticus 11:44: “For I am Yahuweh your Elohim, and you shall set yourselves apart. And you shall be set apart, for I am set-apart.”

Leviticus 19:1: “…Be set apart for I, Yahuweh your Elohim, am set-apart”

Leviticus 20:7-8, 23-24,26: “And you shall set yourselves apart, and shall be set-apart, for I am Yahuweh your Elohim and you shall guard My laws and do them. I am Yahuweh who sets you apart…And do not walk in the manners of the nations which I am driving out before you, for they commit all these things and therefore I abhorred them. You are going to possess their land…I am Yahuweh your Elohim, who has separated you from these people…And you shall be set-apart to Me, for I, Yahuweh, am set-apart, and have separated you from the people to be mine.”

I Peter 1:16: “Be set apart for I am set-apart”.

Ephesians 1:4: “According as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be set-apart without blame before Him in love”.

I Peter 1:1-2: “Kepha, an emissary of Yahushua Messiah, to the chosen strangers of the dispersion in Pontos, Galatia, Kappadokia, Asia and Bithunia, chosen according to the foreknowledge of Elohim the Father, set-apart by the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Yahushua Messiah, favor be unto you and peace be multiplied”.

Hebrews 12:14 “…without set-apartness no man shall see Elohim”.

Revelation 22:11: “…let the set-apart be more set-apart”.

Near the shores of the north Dead Sea, not far from Jerusalem, lie the ruins of a desert community inhabited from about 150-68 BCE. What happened there laid much foundational groundwork for the early assemblies of Torah guarding believers in Messiah Yahushua, and for the forerunning company—the Eliyahu Company—remnant of these last days. The community was comprised of mostly men—Jews and Zadok priests—who fled the wickedness of Greece and Rome to discipline themselves in purity and set-apartness. There they preserved the precious scrolls of the Tenach for us, as well as other books, like The Book of Enoch that would also later appear in the Messianic Writings. They also gave us a general outline of community life that would be modified and adapted for the early communities of Torah-guarding believers in Messiah Yahushua. The men of the Wadi Quman community also preserved for us their instructions for community life and for the final war between the sons of light and the sons of Belial that give us valuable wisdom for the times ahead. Josephus called the men at Wadi Qumran “the Essenes”.

The Essenes had other communities of families, some who lived in villages

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around Jerusalem, and some in Jerusalem. But, all of them as a whole were symbolically representative of the marked ones of Ezekiel 9:1-11 who signed and cried for the abominations done in Jerusalem, and thus were preserved in their set-apartness as an example to us in our day.

Notes from the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem regarding the Essenes: “The community at Qumran was profoundly religious and devoted all its energies to the worship of God. The sectarians believed that the angels were their companions and that their spiritual level elevated them to the border between the human and the divine. The atmosphere of sanctity that enveloped them is evident from the 100 Biblical Psalms and more than 200 extra-Biblical prayers and hymns preserved in the scrolls”,

The world looks on this radical view of set-apartness as being “religious”. Yet a simple reading of the Word shows that this is to be the norm for the set-apart children of Yahuweh, whether they live out in the desert or in a city. People should be able to look at our lives and see our devotion to Yahuweh and be changed by the anointing that flows from our mouths, and from our lifestyle.

On April 12th, while the Old City of Jerusalem was under heavy guard by the IDF on Easter Sunday morning because of fighting that goes on in the Arab Quarter around the “Church of the Holy Sepulcher” and the Via Dolorosa between the different factions of Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, my friends and I exited the City and went south along the Dead Sea. In all the approximately thirty times I had been in Israel, I had yet to see Qumran. I had been to the Shrine of the Book at the Israeli Museum and seen the Dead Sea Scrolls from Qumran. I had read books on Qumran. I love archeology, so the finding of the scrolls by Bedouin youth in 1947 really intrigued me. I have studied and taught the Tenach in depth on and off since at least 1963. So to see the Isaiah scroll I the Shrine of the Book gave me chills. One copy of Isaiah was found in its entirety. It is the oldest copy of the book of Israel in existence.

1947 was a year marking the last generation that would end with the coming of Messiah (Matthew 24:32-34). November 29, 1947 saw the United Nations approving the partitioning of Israel, which gave Israel its statehood May 15, 1948. It also was the year of the formation of the CIA, the crashing of alien craft at Roswell, New Mexico, and many other strategic end time things that began a multitude of prophetic fulfillments. It also began the last generation time-period before Messiah returns, and unleashed the prophecies of the end times.

Israel is called His “fig” tree in Joel 1:7 and Hosea 9:10. In Matthew 24:32-34, Yahushua says that when the fig tree once again begins to put out leaves then the time of His coming is “at the doors”. After 2,500 years of not being an independent nation, from May 15, 1948, Israel once again had the right to govern themselves—the fig tree began putting out its leaves again.

It was a miracle – a nation born in a day! (Isaiah 66:6-12) And, as Zechariah 12:7 tells us, He “saved” the tents of Judah and restored the tribe of the

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scepter-holder first, so that as Zechariah 8:19-23 tells us, the rest of the tribes of Jacob could come home.

The strategically timed “accidental” finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls by a Bedouin shepherd boy was a major event that helps us get an understanding of life in community for survival in the days head in which the set-apart ones will be attacked who, like the Essenes, stand against the systems of Greece and Rome. The Essenes did not have Messiah Yahushua, but their writings were true to those who wanted freedom from the defilement of the Roman puppets in the Temple, and we can learn a great deal from them, modified of course through our knowledge of our Savior and Redeemer. It is amazing that Peter, Jude, John, Paul, John the immerser, and even Messiah Himself quoted and/or alluded to the concepts in the writings of the Essenes and the Book of Enoch.

My friends and I got to Qumran before the tour group onslaught. Only one

small group was there. My friends walked around faster than I could go, so I

just sauntered and prayed. But, I had not gone far into the ruins before tears began flowing down my cheeks, and Father’s Spirit moving in my spirit like a baby in the womb moves. Interesting that the meaning of the Hebrew word for “loving kindness”, which is used in the Tenach to a characteristic of Yahuweh means: “to nurture like a baby in the womb”. His anointing Presence was strong on me there.

He began training me in set-apartness from age four. At age four, while riding in the backseat of my parent’s car, I felt and saw Him put a clear bubble around me, and hear Him speak to me “You don’t belong here anymore”. From that point on, the world system meant little to nothing to me. That in itself set me apart from the “normal” children I grew up with. I also had a Levite personality from an early age, seeing only in the reality of “right and wrong”. I never went looking for what was wrong, but wrong revealed itself to me. I had a passion for His Word from early childhood. Therefore, what was not of His Word was obviously wrong, and I confronted it. Now to confront wrong causes masks to come off, and ugliness to comes out. Now, the ones that tell the truth are made out to be the bad ones, and the evil ones come off “smelling like a rose”. (Isaiah 59:14-15; Amos 5:10)

The rise in the jezebel spirit is huge. The set-apart ones are the targets of the most satan-minded wickedness, which is done under cover for the most part by those who appear to be so good on the surface. We are called to align to the plumb line of His Truth, but also to be living plumb lines as examples of true set-apartness to others, in humility, love and peace. (Amos 7:7-8)

I never have felt at home in this world. I latched onto the Prophets in the Tenach, and especially Eliyahu and Yohanan the immerser (John the Baptist) early-on. After college I taught in Bible Colleges in America and Africa -- mostly “Old Testament Survey”, as well as Revelation. I’m always grieved to hear of people who have snatched their free ticket to heaven but who have no love of the Word. To most so-called “believers” the Prophet’s messages are unknown. Yet it is through the Prophets that we learn the nature of Yahuweh

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and His plans for His set-apart ones in our day. To me, the Prophets are like my brothers. But, then again, few take time to study the Word with the Spirit of Yahuweh as their Teacher. It is too easy and convenient to just listen to a big-name speaker at a conference, go to a study group with friends, read a book, or watch a DVD, than to be alone with Him. Such tragic laziness will result in a tragic ending. Yet He is the only source of pure, undiluted Truth. Many avoid the book of Revelation because they say it is “cryptic” and hard to understand. But, understanding comes by the Spirit of Yahuweh.

Around 2003, Yahuweh took the seals off of Daniel and the cryptic façade off of Revelation. Revelation was written to the servants of the Master Yahushua. (Revelation 1:1-2) Thus, it is the servants of Yahuweh who are being taught by Him to understand the books of Daniel and Revelation. It is also to His servants that He is revealing His deep secrets in these last days. (Amos 3:7)

Isn’t it interesting that Communist China has outlawed the teaching of two books of the Bible in particular – Daniel and Revelation. Isn’t it interesting that the world community as a whole, including the United States, has condemned teaching on the second coming of Messiah--not teaching on the rapture, but on His return as in Revelation 11:15-18, in which He takes over the kingdoms of this world. The leaders of this world are terrified of His take-over, and they should be!

We are bought with a price—the price of His blood. The bondservant only lives to please the Master. (II Corinthians 6:20; 7:23; Acts 20:28) It is His servants that get His rewards according to their faithfulness.

Matthew 25:21: “Well done good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things—enter the joy of your Master”.

Those set-apart to Him alone, who joyfully obey His every command and His will on a daily basis, have a relationship with Him that no others have. When He comes to rule His Kingdom, His servants will be known as His closest friends.

Around 1985-1986, I began studying the prophets with great zeal. At Qumran I touched base with them--especially the one I call “my mentor”—Yohanan the immerser. He was in the desert wilderness until the time of his appearing to Israel. It is most probable that he was with the Essenes during part of his wilderness experience. The Essenes put heavy emphasis on the mivah – the ritual immersion for purity and set-apartness, which was done each day. In the ruins of Qumran many mikvah baths were found. Yohanan did not baptize like Christians do—holding the person while dunking them backwards into the water and up. Nor did he sprinkle water on their heads. For baptism means total immersion. Yohanan called the people to mikvah—to dunk themselves under the water totally as a public display of their repentance.

Qumran, like nothing before, brought together and defined my calling and my direction for these last days. I walked through the ruins in peace and joy, knowing that I had “come home” in a spiritual sense.

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I remember when I was twenty: I was out on the backside of the Navajo

Reservation in Arizona, back where white people rarely came, bouncing along in the back of an old truck with my bedroll and backpack. I looked up at the big sky. I said Father: “I would love to spend my life like this, with a backpack and a bedroll”. I suppose He heard me, just like He heard my age 14 prayer when I told Him I didn’t want a normal life, but a life of adventure in His service, because I didn’t want to miss anything that He was doing. I told Him I wanted to be in the middle of everything He was doing. He heard that one! Later on, however, I told Him, that I would go anywhere He wanted me to go EXCEPT to Africa and the Middle East. He must have had a belly laugh on hearing that—for at His leading, I spent seven years in and out of Africa, and have spent, to date, ten years in the Middle East…and loved it!

At Qumran, the extreme depth of the training He had put me through since early age all came out. I knew that in the future, the communities of those

who would endure to the end and overcome would be like the Essenes in their desire for purity and set-apartness. Yes, the Essenes went overboard with some of their rigorous rules of discipline—but their example lives on for us, and their warnings, so that we walk in the fruit of the re-born spirit in love, joy, peace, longsuffering, faith, gentleness, kindness, purity, humility, patience, faithfulness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23) with one another.